​Kvothe is a legend in his own time, but no one knows his real story. When Chronicler arrives at his inn, Kvothe agrees to tell his story; the real story. He tells Chronicler it will take three days to tell his story properly.
Now, on the second day of his tale, Kvothe takes his first steps toward becoming the hero everyone has heard of.
I enjoyed most of this novel. There were areas and segments that, to me, felt as though they didn’t quite fit with the rest of the story.
On the whole, the plot line was riveting and engaging. It moved at a relatively decent pace, never staying idle for too long, except in one of the scenes that I felt was drawn out and occupied little importance to the plot line as a whole.
As far as Kvothe himself is concerned, I found him to be roughly the same throughout most of the novel. In some ways he was different, but nothing too drastic, and as this novel takes place over a considerable amount of time, character growth must occur.
One particular part of this novel seemed as though the amount of time encompassed completely outweighed its importance. I am hoping that the third novel will prove me wrong in that regard.
I am worried about the third book, since this novel is supposed to encompass a large amount of time, and it seems that in the relativity of the story, and how much there is still to come, there is more than one book can handle.
I would give this novel 3.5 out of 5 stars and would recommend this novel to fans of Terri Brooks, Piers Anthony, and David Gemmel.
I received this novel as a gift and am using a personal image above.

​When Zane hits an all-time low in his life, he decided to end it. When Death walked through his apartment door, the sight of him startles Zane and he shoots death instead. The second death’s body hits the floor, Fate walks in, informing Zane of his new occupation, Death. The man who murders Death, becomes him.
Zane finds himself suddenly claiming the souls of those who passed away with a nearly equal slate, to determine whether they go to heaven or hell. But when Zane questions the rules, things become strained. It isn’t until Zane discovers Satan cheating that things become downright ugly. What will Zane do when the woman he loves is targeted by the Devil himself?
I found this book to be unique. I am literally in-between whether or not I like this novel.
The character of Zane is vague with contradicting morals and ideologies. He is a good man and cares about the souls that he has to collect, but at the same time, he exhibits degrading opinions in some of the people he encounters.
Personally, I did not appreciate the way the author wrote about the female characters in this story. Every female encountered was graded upon her beauty and sexual appeal to the character of Zane. That aside, the female characters, most of them at least, were written as all too ready to offer themselves, bodily, up to Zane, for one reason or another. Even a female ghost who offered her body to Zane for his courageous conduct in the face of danger.
I do understand that the main character, Zane, is in fact a male. Therefore, when seeing it from his point of view, it would make sense for him to notice a female’s beauty before knowing her personality. However, I felt that the author over did this in the extreme, especially when having every female degrade themselves by selling their bodies to every man who comes along, or does the right and respectable thing.
I did find the idea of Death, as well as Fate, Mother Nature, Father Time, and War to be interesting occupations. Not to mention the way the author depicted them as an entire lifestyle. I did not like Mother Nature’s portrayal, nor that of Mars (War), overtly much, but the concept itself intrigued me.
I have debated how many stars I felt this novel deserved and I have decided to give this novel two and a half out of five stars, which explains why I previously stated that I was on the fence.
I received my copy of this novel as a gift and have been granted permission to use an image of the cover artwork above.

​Evan Strangward is on the run from the Empress Celestine, but his magical abilities that allow him to control the weather and the ocean will only keep him safe for so long. Celestine is growing stronger, with plans to invade the Fells. Now Evan is making his way inland to warn the Gray Wolf queen of the impending invasion. If he cannot convince her that the danger is real, Evan will lose everything.
Alyssa ana’ Raisa has been taken prisoner by Empress Celestine after the fall of Chalk Cliffs. With the Empress unaware that Lyss is the Crown Princess of the Fells, Lyss finds herself with the unique opportunity to learn valuable intel on her new enemies, that is if she isn’t turned into one of the Empress’ bloodsworn warriors first.
Another wonderful installment in the Shattered Realms series by Cinda Williams Chima. I was worried about this novel because I had heard rumor that this was the last novel in the series. Fortunately, those rumors were incorrect and unfounded.
The characters are much the same as they were in Flamecaster and Shadowcaster. The characters that played very small roles in the first two novels were given personalities and we were presented with a deeper understanding behind their actions. I was thrilled to have some of these characters go from being 2D characters to having roles of greater significance in this novel.
I was also thrilled to have all of the main character’s stories come together finally. I was worried that this novel would separate itself from the first two books when I realized that the main focal characters in this installment were not the same as either of the previous novels. However, all of the characters from the first two novels made an appearance and their stories really came together.
We have even more characters now, when we already had so many, so, thankfully, the plotline is finally beginning to come together. This novel had less backtracking than book two, which allowed the storyline to move forward.
I was very happy with this novel and cannot wait for the next novel in the series. I would give this novel five out of five stars and would recommend it to fans of fantasy.
I received my copy of this novel as a gift and the picture above is one of my own taking and my own copy.

​When Kerry finds a man lying half dead in the bushes outside her summer share house, she takes him in and fixes him up. Daniel Blessing is gorgeous and on the run from a woman named Season. Only Season isn’t just some woman, she’s a very powerful witch, just like Daniel.
Kerry never believed in witches before, but now that her and her friends’ lives are threatened, they may have to reconsider.
Kerry is quickly falling for Daniel Blessing. If what Daniel says is true, Season has been the cause of death and destruction for generations and Kerry and her friends won’t be safe until she is stopped. With no other options, Kerry and her friends team up with Daniel to attempt to put an end to Season’s reign of terror.
I enjoyed the primary main character. Her personality is realistic for a teenager fresh out of high school. Because of the health situation with her mother, she has developed a higher level of maturity and a certain level of sympathy that compels her to help Daniel Blessing when she finds him slowly bleeding to death outside her home.
Daniel is the main male character. His personality, and his magical abilities, paint him as a hero, the kind of selfless, out for the good of all, kind of guy who just wants to do the right thing. Unfortunately, he is also blindly set on his goal of stopping Season, which leads me to wonder if he isn’t misled himself.
The plot line is relatively fast paced, and yet at the same time the motley crew spends a considerable amount of time on recon.
I would give this novel three and a half out of five stars and would recommend it to fans of stories similar to the Twilight Saga by Stephanie Meyer.
I bought my copy of this novel from bookoutlet.com and the picture featured above were taken by myself and is of my personal copy.

​Fletcher lives in a small village where he works as a blacksmith’s apprentice. When he accidentally discovers that he has a rare ability to summon demons from the ether, his whole world turns upside down. After fleeing his village for a crime he did not commit, he finds his way to the school for young summoners where he hopes to learn the art of summoning.
The king and the school are becoming more desperate for battlemages. This desperation has led to the school allowing first years to participate in the tournament that allows them to demonstrate their skills in order to obtain a favorable position in the king’s army. With his fellow students, both commoners and nobles, Fletcher endures grueling lessons that help to prepare them for the tournament. But prejudices and rivalries will test his new friendships and his limits. Will Fletcher survive the tournament or will the sinister forces working against him prevail?
A compelling read where Harry Potter meets Lord of the Rings to create a whole new hero. I have read both good and bad reviews of this novel and was unsure what my own opinion would be.
The character of Fletcher is a happy combination of poor, skilled country boy and quick, inquisitive, natural learner. His survival skills, learned from growing up in a small village near the wilderness, enable him to see and learn things differently than the other students. However, at the same time, they are not obtrusive when it comes to his ability to form friends. In fact, they help.
The plot line is somewhat slow, with little action and more character interactions and building. That said, there are moments of action, some intense. As I stated in my synopsis summary, a large portion of this novel has the main character in school. Therefore, this was not unexpected.
I would give this book four out of five stars and would recommend this novel to fans of Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, and Lord of the Rings.
I bought my copy of this novel from bookoutlet.com and am currently seeking permission from the publishers to use an image of the cover artwork above.

Fifteen-year-old Emma just moved to a new city with her mother and her little brother. Their apartment building is still under construction, so regular power outages are not uncommon. When the power goes out just as they are leaving for a weekend camping trip, they don’t think much of it. That is until their car won’t start and their cell phones die. Not to mention all of the cars that are no longer working, parked on the road outside their building.
Since they are already packed for their trip, Emma’s ex-marine mother decides they will take their gear and canoe to a small, uninhabited island. As the outage continues, people become desperate and suddenly things are far from safe as the threat of violence increases.
What would happen if suddenly the things that you use and count on everyday suddenly quit working? Would you know how to get food and water? How to build a fire?
Personally, I am not the biggest fan of post-apocalyptic fiction. They’re so realistic. This novel, however, I found to be a great read that helped highlight our dependence on modern technology and convenience. When the power mysteriously quits working, the citizens in Emma’s new city home don’t handle it well because very few of them have the knowledge that allows them to survive without it. The longer the power remains out, the more desperate everyone becomes, bringing out the strengths and the weaknesses of each individual, as well as, bringing out the worst in them.
The setting allowed me, as the reader, to envision this happening nearly anywhere. Usually being able to imagine this sort of scenario in my own backyard would be one of the reasons I would not have enjoyed this novel but for some reason that was not the case here.
Reading this novel made me extremely thankful to family and friends who taught me how to grow food, build fires and shelters, and purify water throughout the years.
This book is listed, on Goodreads, as the fourth book in The Power of Three series by Eric Walters. However, since the main character shifts for this installment, I was able to read it without any difficulty or confusion. The author himself has informed me that the fourth book can be read without reading the first three.
I was happily surprised by how much I enjoyed this novel and would give it four out of five stars.
I would recommend this novel to fans of post-apocalyptic fiction such as The Road.
I won my copy of this novel on LibraryThing.com for the sole purpose of providing an honest review.

​The Order of St. George has been hunting dragons for centuries, nearly to the point of extinction. They are dragon slayers, legends of old, with a mission to protect the human race from the mighty, fire-breathing beasts.
Dragons have prevailed, however, hiding among us, blending into our society in their human forms. Talon, a powerful dragon organization, has managed to slowly grow their numbers, becoming stronger and more cunning with each passing year. They have positioned themselves across the globe, ready to take over the world, with the humans none the wiser.
Ember Hill wants to experience her one summer of freedom before being assigned her official place in Talon. With her brother, Dante, they are the only sister and brother known to dragon kind and they have a mission; to spend the summer learning how to assimilate themselves into human society. When Ember encounters a rogue dragon, however, she will begin to question all that Talon has taught her, all the while being hunted by the Order of St. George.
Garret Xavier Sebastian is a soldier for the Order of St. George. He has been trained to seek out and destroy dragons. Since the older the dragon the harder to kill, Talon’s youngest recruits are the perfect targets, easier to kill with less experience. Garret cannot kill without absolute proof that his target is a dragon. When Garret and his partner are sent to flush out a new hatchling, all evidence points to Ember and her brother Dante. Ember is confident and brave and has a zeal for life that makes Garret question everything St. George has taught him about dragons.
This novel has been on my “want-to-read” list since it was released in 2014. With the dragon-slaying Order of St. George and the Talon organization, I had a somewhat medieval fantasy realm in my mind just waiting to be revealed. I was wrong.
This novel is not set in a fantastical medieval realm but rather in modern day California, where we first meet the young dragons, Ember and Dante. They go surfing and hang out at the local smoothie shop. They are in many ways, average American teenagers.
Ember’s character is developed in a way that, at certain instances, you can almost forget that she is actually a fire-breathing dragon.
It is not uncommon in young adult novels to find that the characters, despite their young ages, have their lives figured out. They also often appear older than they are. These reasons, along with others, can sometimes be a deterrent to readers. I found Ember to defy the norms. She is confused, she doesn’t know what she wants, she doesn’t know what to think and she comes across as a teenager. Dante is the exact opposite, but he is surprisingly a minor character in the grand scheme of the story.
At the beginning of this novel, Garret is the perfect soldier; he doesn’t need to know anything besides how to do his job. Until he is sent to discover whether or not Ember is a dragon in disguise. The more time he spends with Ember and her friends, the more he begins to come across as a teenager.
The plot line follows their experiences over the summer. Ultimately that means that the level of intense action is subdued, but not necessarily in a bad way. Instead we see both Ember and Garret trying to learn how to behave like teenagers and learn that there are aspects to life they love that they have never been able to experience before.
I would give this novel 4.5 stars out of five and would recommend it to readers who enjoy clean romance and dragon fantasy novels.
I received my copy of this novel from my husband for Valentine’s Day.

​There is unrest in the kingdom of Paelsia. When an Auranos Noble murders Jonas’ brother, Jonas lashes out. However, instead of exacting his revenge on one man, Jonas decides to use his brother’s death to bring initiated change, change his brother always wanted. Inadvertently, Jonas becomes the leader of a revolution in the hope to end the oppression and impoverished state of the people of Paelsia.
Magnus is the son and heir to the King of Blood. His father is the ruthless king of Limeros, willing to sacrifice anything to get what he wants. Magnus must be very careful and cunning to earn his father’s trust while at the same time, he attempts to protect his sister Lucia.
Princess Cleo has lead a life of privilege and splendor in the kingdom of Auranos. When she witnesses the murder of a poor Paelsian wine seller’s son, she is forced into an engagement to the arrogant drunk, Aron Lagaris, the murderer himself. His actions in Paelsia have caused an uproar among the three kingdoms. Things quickly escalate from bad to worse and sets the kingdom of Auranos on the path to war.
A couple of years ago, I sought to read this series, however, I unwittingly began reading “Rebel Spring,” book two in the series, believing it to be book one. I was completely confused and gave up on the series, until I discovered my error.
This novel follows the lives of four young teenagers in three separate countries after the tragic murder of young Jonas’ older brother. Each of the four main characters have different backgrounds and situations that have fueled their current state of being. Some characters I found to be more relatable and likeable than others but found all four to be realistic, given their different situations.
The plot line is relatively fast paced, with the characters and the countries progressing to an ultimate conflict. The main character changes between the four characters regularly, but I was happy to discover there was not much need for “back-peddling” with each character switch despite the different locations and interactions that each character experiences.
All in all, I did enjoy this novel and am very glad that I read it. I cannot wait to read “Rebel Spring” and have it make sense this time.
I would give this novel four out of five stars and I would recommend it to fans of The Seven Realms series by Cinda Williams Chima.
I received my copy of this novel as a gift from my husband and I am currently seeking permission to use an image of the cover artwork above.

​Tasty is an amazing popular cooking brand that has accumulated fans all over the world. Their delighting cooking videos have an appeal, but sometimes it is better to have a collection of recipes. This cookbook features over 80 winning recipes loved by fans the world-over.I found Tasty purely by accident when randomly searching for new recipes that my whole family would enjoy. I first stumbled upon their video for taco pasta. My family loved it and since then I have regularly visited their site in search for new recipes.So, when I was offered the opportunity to read, try, and review their latest cookbook, I was thrilled. So far, this cookbook has not disappointed. The recipes are easy to understand and follow with a list of ingredients and detailed steps.The photographs, both on the cover and throughout, are beautiful, clear, and appealing. Some of the recipes are even accompanied by step-by-step photos.The physicality of the book is simplistic and efficient. There is nothing I dislike more than trying to use a recipe in a ten pound tome of a book that takes up one third of my counter space. This cookbook is thin and light with a hardcover and is slightly smaller than the average notebook. For me this is definitely a plus.As a young woman, wife, and mother, I enjoy cooking our traditional family recipes and grandma’s top secret recipes, but at the same time, I am searching for our own family favorites and ones my kids can enjoy just as much as I do.My family and I have enjoyed trying these recipes and are eager to try the ones we have yet to try.I would give this cookbook five out of five stars and would recommend it to those who enjoy cooking good food at affordable prices.I received my copy of this cookbook from bloggingforbooks.com for the sole purpose of providing an honest review. I am currently seeking permission from the publishers to use an image of the cover artwork above.

​Dally is a young orphan working as a servant in the mayor of Honor’s home. After the fire that claimed the lives of her family, the mayor opened his home to her. Despite being a servant, Dally enjoys spending time with the mayor’s dog and her pups. They have developed a special bond and she worries about the day that she will be parted from them.
Once Dally develops the telepathic ability to communicate with the puppies and Queen Shona, the unofficial queen of realm, she helps Queen Shona and her army arrive and defeat the mysterious creatures living in the forest outside Honor.
Now the realm is suffering from a severe and mysterious illness. Hyam, the hero who defeated the crimson mage during the battle of Emporis, is one of many suffering from this illness, with no known cure. With the realm under attack, Dally may be their only hope because Dally possesses a unique magic that may be the only way to protect the realm.
I have enjoyed this series since the first novel, however, this third installment threw me for a whirl.
Hyam is originally from Honor, the same small town that Dally lives in. Returning to Honor, therefore, was not a very big surprise. Dally is a very unique and intriguing character, even with all of the other characters in this novel. Unlike many of the other characters in this novel, Dally is an enigma, possessing a power unlike any other and with no idea as to where it came from.
I was surprised to find that Hyam was a minor character in this installment while in the other two novels he was a main character. Not only was he a minor character, but he was hardly in the novel at all. Other characters that have held an important role in the previous novels were minor characters now.
The plot line was very interesting, following the sudden adventures of the young Dally and those trying to save the realm. I found the plot line to be scintillating, however, it was almost as though a whole novel was missing between “The Merchant of Alyss” and this novel.
I hope that this is not the final installment in this riveting series because I have many unanswered questions.
I would give this novel three and a half out of five stars and would recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the first two novels.
I won my copy of this novel from LibraryThing.com and have been granted permission from the publishers at Revell to use an image of the cover artwork above.